Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC
With the Photos app and a USB cable, you can transfer photos and videos to your computer. You can also make your photos available on all of your devices with iCloud Photos.
Use iCloud Photos
iCloud Photos keeps your photos and videos safe, up to date and available automatically on all of your Apple devices, on iCloud.com and even your PC. When you use Photos, you don’t need to import photos from one iCloud device to another. iCloud Photos always uploads and stores your original, full-resolution photos. You can keep full-resolution originals on each of your devices, or save space with device-optimised versions instead. Find out how to set up and use iCloud Photos.
The photos and videos that you keep in iCloud Photos use your iCloud storage. Before turning on iCloud Photos, make sure you have enough space in iCloud to store your entire collection. You can see how much space you need and then upgrade your storage plan, if necessary.
Import to your Mac
If you use iCloud Photos, your photos will sync to your Mac automatically. If you don’t use iCloud Photos or your iCloud storage is full, connect your device to your Mac to import photos and videos:
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac with a USB cable.
If you see a prompt to allow your accessory to connect to your computer, click Allow.
Open the Photos app on your computer.
The Photos app shows an Import screen with all of the photos and videos that are on your connected device. If the Import screen doesn't appear automatically, click the device's name in the Photos sidebar.
If asked, unlock your iPhone or iPad using your passcode. If a prompt appears on your iPhone or iPad asking you to Trust This Computer, tap Trust to continue.
Choose where you want to import your photos to. Next to Album, you can choose an existing album or create a new one.
Select the photos you want to import and click Import Selected, or click Import All New Photos.
Wait until the process has finished, then disconnect your device from your Mac.
Import to your Windows PC
Install the Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store.
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your PC with a USB cable.
If asked, unlock your iPhone or iPad using your passcode.
If you see a prompt on your iPhone or iPad device asking you to Trust This Computer, tap Trust or Allow to continue.
Visit Microsoft’s website to find out how to import photos to the Microsoft Photos app in Windows.
If you have iCloud Photos turned on, you must download the original, full resolution versions of your photos to your iPhone or iPad before you import to your PC.
To ensure photos from your iPhone or iPad have the best compatibility with Windows:
On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app.
Tap Camera, then tap Formats.
Tap Most Compatible. From now on, your camera will capture photos and videos in JPEG and H.264 formats.
More ways to transfer photos and videos
Import your images directly to a folder on your Mac with Image Capture.
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